The Center for Alcohol Studies (CAS) training program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is designed to promote the development of promising pre- and post-doctoral research fellows as independent investigators and future University faculty members who will investigate the pathogenesis of alcoholism and alcohol abuse using modern molecular medicine techniques. Training of the postdoctoral fellows will be individualized with the most important component being the research conducted by the trainee in the faculty mentor's laboratory. Particular emphasis will be on modern molecular biological and biochemical techniques. Additional training will include didactic courses, seminars and conferences, and activities on responsible conduct of research. The training faculty will consist of 13 funded investigators from 10 basic science and clinical departments and centers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The faculty has a documented history of close interactions. The trainees will benefit from the unique strengths of alcohol research at the University of North Carolina, which include the CAS, center for Gastrointestinal Biology and Diseases (CGIBD), with its research cores, UNC-Neuroscience Center, a research-oriented Mental Health Research Center with its research cores in Psychiatry, a Gene Therapy Center and the Program in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology. The training program will be directed by Dr. Fulton T. Crews with the assistance of three senior alcohol researchers, Drs. David Brenner, George Breese and Leslie Morrow, who will constitute the Training Program Advisory Committee. The program proposes to recruit three post-doctoral fellows and one pre-doctoral fellow. The trainees will receive two and usually more years of research training with external support sought for later years. This institutional training grant will promote intensive training in molecular techniques and basic pathophysiology in a stimulating environment leading to broadly trained independent investigators capable of adapting to the rapid advances in research in the 21st century.